Tag: advertising
The Power Behind E-books
Have you ever wondered what all the hype is about e-books? Why are they so popular? Would you be able to write your own e-book? These are just a few of the questions we will answer in today’s article.
E-books are found almost everywhere on the internet. There are even libraries where you can download free e-books onto your computer. Many of these e-books are free because they are in the public domain, but there are some that have been written specifically to boost advertising.
We are now living in the ìinformation ageî where people want to get valuable input quickly and easily. This is where e-books lead the way in a world where information is so often sought after. The contribution of e-books to the internet marketplace is one of the forerunning advertisement methods in use today.
How is it used to promote your business?
By offering e-books to those people who visit your site, you are allowing your visitors to know a bit more about the product/service you are promoting. By writing on a topic that you are familiar with you set yourself up as an expert in your particular field.
By using a form to capture your visitor’s names and email addresses you are also building up your very own opt-in mailing list. Is it any wonder that so many people are using this as a viral marketing tool?
Perhaps you are wondering how you too can get on the bandwagon of writing e-books to help boost the traffic to your website or organization.
Obviously, first you must write the e-book. What should you write your e-book on? Your e-book should be based on information that you are already familiar with. Do you have a particular niche that you would like to promote? Then write according to your expertise.
For example, if you are a dog lover, you could write a book about taking proper care of canines, or write about a particular type of dog that you are familiar with. It is more advantageous to write about something concerning your particular market but writing about a complimentary market could also bring you leads that you can use to boost your business.
The important point is to get your name out in the public eye of the internet community so that they will look to you for the expert advice that you can offer.
What if you cannot write a book? You may have ideas and know what you want to talk about but you are unable to compose your thoughts in a clear, precise manner. In this situation, all is not lost. You can hire, usually for a small fee, someone else to write the book for you. This is called ìghostwritingî and is actually a very common practice.
To hire a ghostwriter it is your responsibility to make sure that he/she knows what it is you wish to convey in your e-book and they will go about and write the book for you.
You pay them to write the e-book but it is your name that appears as the author.
Once your book is written it must be converted to either an html file or a .pdf file. This is a simple process with a .pdf converter.
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Be Single Minded
Youíve read about the importance of being courageous, rebellious and imaginative. These are all vital ingredients in an effective advertising campaign. However, they must be tempered with the most important ingredient of allóstrategy.
As long as the advertising industry has been in existence there has been debate about whether advertising is art or commerce. Quite frankly, this kind of divisive argument is a waste of time and has only helped to diminish what little respect the industry has earned through the years. Besides, the answer is simple. Advertising is the art of commerce.
It canít be pure art because pure art wonít engage the consumer on behalf of the brand. Art can certainly get peopleís attention, but it rarely causes them to take action. If the consumer is not actively engaged, the brand wonít grow. If the brand doesnít grow, the company wonít profit. And if the company ceases to make a profit, it dies and takes its brand with it.
On the other hand, advertising canít be mere commerce because capitalism, in and of itself, is not pretty. It doesnít make people sit up and take notice. Pure commerce deals with the exchange of money for goods and services. How boring is that. Besides, you donít want to encourage simple commerce. You want to promote branded commerce. That is what makes strategy so important.
Letís be clear. Weíre talking advertising strategy. Advertising is not marketing. Marketing involves several disciplines including product, pricing, packaging, distribution, customers and promotions (which encompasses public relations, advertising, point-of-sale, direct marketing, e-marketing, etc.).
If your ad agency canít tell the difference between marketing and advertising strategy, run like hell. Youíre liable to waste a lot of money. Now some agencies do understand the balance between the broader marketing picture and the narrow, targeted advertising scope. If they are capable and comfortable operating in both realms, they will be a very valuable partner to you.
The importance of a strong ad strategy canít be stressed enough. Creating ads without strategy is like throwing a ping pong ball at a speeding car in a wind storm. There is little chance you will hit your target.
With a sound advertising strategy, however, even a company with a limited budget can compete against deep-pocketed competitors. Such is the power of the single idea that remains constant over time. This, my friend, is the essence of long-term branding.
You must start by knowing to whom you are speaking and to whom you should be speaking. What are their hot buttons? What kinds of things are they paying attention to (art)? What would make them want your product or service (commerce)? What kind of life do they lead? What are some of their daily hassles? Can your product or service help with any?
The key, of course, is to begin thinking about your customers and potential customers. Focus on their needs instead of your own. By offering solutions to their needs, you will fulfill your own profit needs. It doesnít work the other way around. Trust me.
Only after you know your audience, should you start thinking about how to communicate with them. Because only then will you know how and where to reach them.
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Be Rebellious
In order to get consumers (whether they are retail or service customers or business-to-business audiences) to notice an advertising message, many companies resort to loudness and one-upmanship. Neither of these tactics works in the long run.
If your competition is talking loudly and you decide to yell louder, what do you think they will do? Yep. Theyíll start to scream. Nobody wins a shouting match when it comes to advertising. And usually youíll find you even lose a few customers in the process because they canít stand the noise.
Itís the same with one-upmanship. If you have to compete on more and better coupons or more and better discounts, giveaways or incentives unrelated to your core product, your revenue per sale decreases as well as your number of sales.
Customers see these types of games as gimmicky, fake and disingenuous; and they leave. The ones who do stay now view you and your competitors as commodities with no difference except your price. That is a dangerous place for a company to find itself.
The answer to clutter is not more clutter; itís finding who wants to hear you and speaking to them. So how do you compete if you canít out shout or out discount your competition? You get rebellious and radical with your advertising.
Do those words scare you? Thatís okay. Remember, youíre being courageous now. You can handle it. Besides, rebellious and radical arenít dirty words. They will help you draw attention away from your competition without resorting to screaming and insulting your customers.
Itís not about being outrageous just to get attention; itís about being remarkable. An advertising campaign with a strong rebellious strategy is, by its very nature, different from anything your audience will find from your competitorsí marketing efforts. Itís unexpected. Itís surprising. Itís effective.
There are two keys to creating a successfully rebellious advertising campaign. The first is the big idea. This idea comes from a strategy that is derived directly from your customers and their relationship with your brand. You arrive at this idea through a discipline called account planning. Weíll get into the details of both the big idea and account planning in later articles.
The second key to a successfully rebellious advertising campaign is attention. You canít gain attention if you donít learn to identify and then steer clear of the norm. It doesnít matter how great your product or service is or how large your potential market, if your target audience doesnít pay attention to your message, your ad budget has been wasted.
Think about these two keys while you flip through the newspaper or a magazine. Ponder them while you watch TV. You should notice something almost immediately. Most ads today donít seem to be based on any big idea. Many are so boring that you flip right past them without noticing them. Others get your attention but the ads donít have much to do with the product so you quickly forget the brand the ad was supposed to sell you. What an opportunity for your brand!
Now, there is a caveat to being rebellious. Your ads should never be different just for difference sake. The difference should be derived from your brandís uniqueness
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Be Courageous
For such a simple statement, this is one of the hardest things for people to do. It goes back to that damn survival instinct each of us is born with. If an animal draws attention to itself in the wild, it might soon find itself the main course of a larger animalís next meal. That fear of being chewed up and spit out has survived all our millions of years of evolution and is alive and well in todayís business environment.
Fight or flight is another instinct many of us havenít yet learned to manipulate. Itís easier to run away from a new idea than it is to stay and fight for it. With todayís leadership-by-committee mentality and intense public scrutiny, the easiest solution is unfortunately the most popular. Companies today often miss the forest through the trees. They tend to concentrate so much on short-term profit that they fail to make investments or take advantages of opportunities that promise long-term profit simply because they require a short-term loss.
It may also be argued that fighting for a new ideaówhether that means pushing for the development of a new product, staving off competitors or supporting a slumping brand rather than letting it dieóis usually undesirable because of such costs.
Certainly that might be true in the short term, but in the long run, giving up too soon my actually cost your company far more in lost revenues, public outrage or shrinking market share. It requires a different way of thinking. Advertising and promoting your business is an investment in your businessí future. Investments are not mere costs. They come with a benefit.
Letís get one thing straight from the very beginning. No company ever dominated its industry by operating with a philosophy of fear. And, ultimately, no company can survive if it doesnít learn to conquer its fear and take chances, make changes.
It is the ability to see past any short-term problems to the bigger, long-term picture that has fueled the meteoric rise of the worldís most successful companies. Nobody knew what Apple was before its history making 1985 Super Bowl commercial.
Apple paid to run that commercial only once, but it ran again hundreds of times around the country and the world during local and national news broadcasts. Stories about Apple and its commercial were front-page news for weeks.
When it comes to advertising, you might wonder what kinds of changes are needed. After all, itís just advertising. If your ads look like your competitorsí ads, if your messages are strikingly similar, if you talk to yourself instead of your customers, if you worry more about your logo being large enough than the message being attention-getting enough, you need to change.
Now this is just the first step, so we wonít get into any more detail here. The object of this step is to let you know that you need to screw up your courage and prepare to make some changes in your advertising that will have a profound effect on your bottom line.
Fear is the greatest motivator. However, instead of motivating people to act, it usually causes people to freeze or retreat. It takes courage to make the kinds of changes that are needed to survive in todayís crowded, complicated and competitive business environment.
Conquer your fear. Be courageous.
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Affordable Advertising Agencies
Low cost internet advertising agencies are the ideal way and most recommended means to make your product or service known and for your web site to earn money. There is such a very huge range of affordable internet advertising agencies that are now found in the Net.
There are various Internet advertising agencies according to the kind of product or service they provide. Here is a list of a few of these kinds of online marketing agencies.
1. Web design agencies
These are focused on building web pages for a website. Many web developers are now offering affordable services if you just know how and where to find them.
2. Logo services
Production of web site logos is the main concern of these agencies. Hundreds of pre-designed logos could be purchased or even customized to complement your website better.
3. Copywriting Agencies
In adjunct to search engine optimization, these agencies provide quality content that targets the attention of the market you intend to tap. Looking for the best deals with copywriting services will be a cinch if you know where to look. If you prefer freelancers, they are often found with their own websites.
4. Search engine optimization companies
These companies analyze and modify websites in order to achieve the highest possible search engine ranking. They improve your website’s design and content to better attract more traffic. Link building could also be employed by these e-marketing agencies to benefit your business. They are actually a combination of all the services mentioned above. Sometimes they also go by the name of Internet marketing consultancies or something of that sort.
5. Domain registration companies
Your business’s name in the web is the business of these companies. Looking for the best amongst a wide array of these agencies is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But if you are determined enough to do your homework with these marketing services, results would be more than rewarding. Just make sure that you don’t register with those whose only intention is to rip off those who can’t afford the most reputable domain registration agencies.
These are just a few of the Internet advertising agencies that a web marketing newbie could turn to. Examining your needs first will better your chances in getting in touch with the cream of the crop of these Internet marketing agencies minus the hefty price tag.
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Advertising on a budget — Part 3: Frequency, frequency, frequency
This is the third article of a three-part series. I’m illustrating the marketing challenges of PrescottWeddings.com, a small business.
If you don’t remember anything else about marketing, remember this: Frequency is king.
The more often you can get your name in front of your potential and current customers, the more likely you will make a sale.
Depending on what study you look at, people need to see your message anywhere from three to 27 times before they act upon it.
And, if you want to brand your business, then you need to get it in front of your customers as often as possible.
How do you think Ivory Soap, Campbell Soup and Tide all built their brands so deeply into our minds? Through years and years of repeatedly advertising. That’s why those brands pop into our head when we think about soap, soup or laundry detergent.
So if you want to build your brand, then you need to advertise frequently.
There’s another benefit to advertising frequently. It also helps your current customers.
People like to know they made the right decision after they purchased something. How much reassurance they need depends on how much they spend, but everyone needs some confirmation they made the right decision. Your advertising can help.
Studies have shown that people are more aware of car ads after they purchased a car — specifically car ads of the model they bought. And they’re more likely to both believe and approve of the message. Again, because they want to know they made the right decision.
So there are many good reasons to advertise frequently. Does that mean you have to spend a fortune? Not necessarily. There are a few tricks you can use to get the frequency you need at a low cost. (These are print tricks — other advertising outlets, such as radio and online, we’ll talk about in future issues.)
1. Make your ad as small as possible. Small ads cost less. See “Advertising on a Budget ñ Part 2: Thinking Small” for more information on shrinking your ad.
2. It’s better to schedule your ads to run all at once than spread them out. People will never remember when they don’t see your ad, only when they do. If they see your ad a lot in one week, they’re going to be under the impression you advertise all the time because they won’t remember NOT seeing your ad other weeks.
3. Take advantage of any frequency programs your newspaper offers. And definitely sign a contract — don’t run ads under the open rate.
Here’s how it worked for PWC.
The newspaper had a program called “3 For Free.” If you ran an ad three days in a row, you got the next three days for free (the paper was published six days a week).
We designed a tiny ad — a one by two inch ad — and we ran it six days in a row. Then we skipped the next three weeks and did the same thing again the next month.
After a year of doing this, PWC had people coming up to her telling her they saw her ad “all the time.” Business owners wanted to advertise on PWC because they could see the commitment PWC had to advertising. Brides and grooms were visiting PWC on a regular basis because they were being “reminded” monthly.
What did all this cost? About $100 a month.
But, a word of caution. It takes time to build a business and a brand. It won’t happen overnight. But it will happen, especially if you remember to keep getting your name in front of your customers and potential customers as often as you possibly can.
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